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The Toronto Maple Leafs gave head coach Mike Babcock the quick start he is always looking for, scoring three times in the first period, but the Leafs allowed the Pittsburgh Penguins to climb back into the game and were fortunate to hold on for a 4-3 victory at PPG Paints Arena on Saturday.
Tyler Bozak scored twice, Connor Brown and James van Riemsdyk scored and Frederik Andersen made 33 saves for Toronto, who improve to 19-10-1 on the season.
The Leafs jumped all over Penguins rookie goalie Tristan Jarry, scoring a pair of goals 19 seconds apart less than two minutes into the first. Brown opened the scoring with his ninth of the season on a set up from Morgan Rielly and van Riemsdyk notched his club-leading 14th goal of the year.
The Bozak line extended the lead to three later in the first, as the veteran center cashed in on a rebound of a Mitch Marner shot.
Jarry, who entered the game with just one regulation loss in seven starts, was yanked in favor of rookie Casey DeSmith to start the second after allowing three goals on 16 shots.
“I think we just came out strong. (Pittsburgh) is a really good team.” Rielly said after the game. “Whenever you come into this building you expect a challenge and I think the guys were just ready to go and obviously created some good offensive opportunities and made them count.”
Toronto seemed to take the foot off of the pedal in the second, content to play defensive hockey and try to limit the Penguins chances on Andersen, but the Leafs goaltender faced significant pressure and 14 shots in the middle frame.
Riley Sheahan finally beat Andersen late in the second and Evgeni Malkin narrowed the lead to 3-2 just over three minutes later on the power play, but the Leafs replied just 22 seconds later as Bozak tipped a Jake Gardiner wrist shot past DeSmith to restore the two-goal lead.
“(The Bozak) line was good for us and then they responded with the fourth goal when the game was going to be a one-goal going into the third and it kind of set ourselves up.” Babcock said following the game.
The Leafs were successful for the most part in keeping the Pens from getting in prime scoring positions for most of the final 20 minutes of regulation, limiting the Cup Champions to only eight third period shots, but Sidney Crosby cut the lead to 4-3 with less than three minutes left and the Pens nearly tied the game as a shot beat Andersen in the waning seconds but hit the post.
“I didn’t like the sort-out for the (Crosby) goal. We gave (Pittsburgh) that free goal, it was four-on-four there – they might have had their goalie out – but it was really four-on-four and we didn’t do what we should have done coming back into our zone.” Babcock said. “We got good goaltending down the stretch and guys blocked shots and we stayed on the inside and (got ourselves a) good win."
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The Leafs face the Edmonton Oilers in the second of back-to-back games at Air Canada Centre, in what was thought to be a battle of backup goaltenders. Toronto is going with Curtis McElhinney with Andersen starting in Pittsburgh, but the Oilers will instead to go with Laurent Brossoit on back-to-back nights.
Brossoit made 22 saves in a 6-2 win in Montreal and head coach Todd McLellan is opting to go with the 24-year-old on consecutive nights instead of giving rookie Nick Ellis his first NHL start.
The Leafs held an optional morning skate on Sunday, and head coach Mike Babcock indicated that there could be lineup changes for the Oilers game based on how some players were feeling after the pre-game warm ups.
Auston Matthews collided with Morgan Rielly late in regulation on Saturday and appeared shaken for moments after. The 20-year-old returned to the ice with the Pens pressing for the tying goal, but his status is up in the air for the much-anticipated head to head match up with Connor McDavid.
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